This is a response to Amaury Dorin’s post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/amaurydb/2013/11/17/is-apple-going-mad-or-to-the-contrary-being-brilliant/

Apple Inc. is probably one of the most known multinational corporations on the globe and with its increasing popularity it never fails to prevail. After being intrigued by reading Amaury’s blog post about how Apple’s iPad pricing policies have affected them, it struck me that, to some extent I agree with what he has to say.

Almost all of the products that Apple Inc.’s. has ever innovated or produced have been priced at a ‘premium’ price. Apple can afford to charge premium prices, but only because of it’s well established customer loyalty and well repudiated brand image. Their customers know how distinctive and differentiated their products are, compared to its competitors and thus are more than willing to pay higher prices. In addition, Apple also needs to cover its Research and Development costs as well as any other costs they might have incurred during the development of the product.

Amaury correctly highlights how Apple is able to charge a premium price for its products such as the iPad due to its brand image. However I don’t believe they made an error, as if they would have charged lower prices, their customers would have ‘physiologically’ thought that since it was ‘cheaper’ it wouldn’t be of high quality.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/videos/2013-10-23/did-apple-make-a-huge-error-on-ipad-pricing

Post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/amaurydb/2013/11/17/is-apple-going-mad-or-to-the-contrary-being-brilliant/

One of the most upcoming apps in today’s world, Snapchat, has turned down an offer from Facebook worth $3bn, for Co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel’s young firm. Two years ago, when Evan and his Stanford classmates decided to create the next renowned instant messaging app, they initially decided to name it “Picaboo”; however towards the launch, they renamed it to Snapchat.

The $860 million dollar company believes its worth more than what Facebook offered and with new ideas of raising revenue such as paid services within the app; it could potentially raise large sums of revenue. One of the main reasons why they believe they can gain large sums of revenue is simply because of its large customer base. The apps main demographic is users between 13 and 23 years of age and recent studies show that more than 45% of the people with smartphones use Snapchat.

Could Snapchat be worth more than $3 billion in the coming future? Could the net present value of $3 billion be less than what Snapchat would be worth in the future? If Snapchat’s value proposition of introducing paid services within the app is successful, they could potentially be worth more in the future.

Source:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/the-23yearold-snapchat-cofounder-and-ceo-who-said-no-to-a-3bn-offer-from-facebook-8940433.html

In Canada, one of the largest furniture companies, IKEA, has decided to dedicate itself to becoming more environmentally sustainable. IKEA has gained the reputation of being one of the most ecofriendly retailers in Canada and plans to further enhance this reputation.

On Thursday, IKEA announced to commit €3-billion to construct renewable energy plants until 2015, by which time will generate enough electricity to equal to 70 percent of its own consumption. After installing a 46-meggawatt plant in Alberta, IKEA will install a 20-turbine wind farm in Pincher Creek, which will ideally produce 161-gigawatt hours of electricity each year. IKEA is able to demonstrate its vision of corporate sustainability by its investment in renewable energy.

IKEA is aware of its customers’ desire to live more sustainably and is thus demonstrating the effort to be more corporately socially responsible (CSR). In addition to its own use of renewable power and high-efficiency lighting, IKEA is expanding its line of green products. This fall, it began selling solar panels for home use in its British stores. IKEA’s benefits from corporate social responsibility (CSR) has enabled it attract more customers, which will subsequently reap them additional long-term benefits (i.e profits).

Source:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/ikea-eyes-low-carbon-future-with-alberta-wind-energy-project/article15436596/

Google Inc.’s. Acquisition of Motorola has not been steady over the pass 18 months and the once-mighty mobile pioneer continues to suffer from falling sales while struggling to find its footing in a market now dominated by Apple Inc. and Samsung. Motorola recently announced its unveiling of the ‘Moto G’, which has all the features of a smartphone as well as being compatible with latest version of Android. But what makes this smartphone so different?

Google Inc. have adopted what they call a ‘Volkswagen strategy”, as Volkswagen was initially designed to offer affordable automobile options. Similarly, Motorola plans to offer the new ‘Moto G’ at a price of $200, cheaper than any smartphone on the market. They aim to provide premium smartphones to people around the world who have never owned a smartphone, simply because it was too expensive.

In addition to being affordable, the new phone will have all the features a regular smartphone would have while also being small and relatively easy to carry. However Motorola is aware of the competition it faces from its other competitors such as Nokia, who also look to penetrate the smartphone industry.

Source:

http://business.financialpost.com/2013/11/13/motorola-moto-g/?__lsa=74dd-704f

In today’s world there isn’t anywhere where ads don’t exist. It has become so common to the public that we feel invulnerable by them; however that hasn’t stopped Instagram from entering the social media advertisement scene.

On November the 6^th, it revealed its first advertisement on its news-feed and surprisingly more than 5% of Instagram users actually ‘liked’ the advertisement. Although this photo sharing app was being tactical by first introducing the video feature to beat out its competitors, Vine and then use it to promote video advertisements as these appeal more to its users than ordinary online advertisements.

However the result of introducing ads might frustrate some of their users, they will soon adapt to accept the ads, as did users of Facebook and Instagram. It is most likely not going to affect Instagram at an increasing rate, due to Instagram’s brand image and positioning in the social media market. Its point of difference is real-time photo sharing, which currently no other app on the market offers. This gives them a vast competitive advantage over any rivals that may want to offer such services and thus they should not see a fall in its number of users.

Source:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/7/5076268/instagram-ads-are-turning-into-likes-five-percent-of-the-time

Response to Team YS post: http://yourstory.com/2013/09/diajeng-lestari-indonesian-entrepreneur/

I recently read a blog written by Team YS, who offers an interesting insight into the world of Muslim fashion. With about 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, I find it strange how there is currently no e-commerce fashion market that caters to Muslim fashion. However Indonesian entrepreneur Diajeng Lestari sets out to solve this issue with her new venture.

Diajeng claims to initially have started the site with only 14 sellers and was inclined towards personal selling at first. Today currently they have a core team of 17 people with 83 sellers and receive almost 8000 visits a day. There is obviously a market for Muslim fashion, as people seem inclined toward purchasing such clothes. One of the main reasons is because there are currently not a lot of firms that cater to Muslim fashion. Additionally Muslim women have regulations about the type of clothes they wear and thus makes it harder to cater to such a niche market.

However with Diajeng’s venture in place, Muslim women all around the world are now able to order clothes online through the use of e-commerce. Additionally Diajeng’s venture might prove to be successful, as she has catered to the niche market and could therefore exploit and reap additional benefits.

Response to Simon Hua’s post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/simonhua/2013/09/21/an-opinion-on-blackberrys-fall/

I recently read Simon Hua’s post “An opinion on Blackberry’s fall” and would like to offer my perspective. Simon argues that one of the main reasons to blackberry’s downfall was because of the competition it faced from its competitors. To some extent I agree with what Simon says however would like to argue both sides of the story.

Being a huge fan of smartphones, I know that blackberry’s customer base has rapidly decreased; nevertheless I don’t believe it is completely depleted. There are still a good proportion of blackberry users around the world, but comparatively less. In addition, Blackberry’s ownership of patents, trademarks and other intangible assets worth approximately $3 billion, makes Blackberry a survivor in the market. Furthermore with the introduction of the blackberry messenger app (BBM), they could potentially make large sums of money, as it is an efficient way to socialize and connect.

Therefore Simon was spot on about blackberry’s failure being caused by its competitors, however they are nowhere close to a breakdown. I believe that with the invention of its new app, its vast intellectual property and its relatively small customer base, Blackberry might still have a future in the market.

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackberry-lay-off-4-500-194022180.html

Pos: https://blogs.ubc.ca/simonhua/2013/09/21/an-opinion-on-blackberrys-fall/

A lot has been said lately about RIM’s vast decline – from their $1 billion quarterly loss to their falling stock value. Can Blackberry redeem their reputation, or are they doomed?

According to The Globe and Mail, Blackberry has a large portfolio of patents and intellectual property that could aid in restoring the losses that they have faced. These patents are worth billions of dollars, and selling them could help the company privatize their enterprise.

However, there is a catch: Blackberry’s patents could be considered dated. Keyboard features were omnipresent across all models of Blackberry devices, but technology is constantly evolving as researchers develop new ideas. The greatest example of this is the recent shift from keyboard-oriented devices like Blackberries to touch screen devices like the iPhone. This could present the company with difficulties surrounding the sale of their patents, as the technology could be considered “of the past”.

Will Blackberry survive in an evolving market?  Blackberry is at a point where it can either redefine itself or cease to meaningfully exist. Undoubtedly, selling its patents will help the recovery process. We just need to be aware of how much their intangible assets are really worth.

Source:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/value-of-blackberrys-patents-at-mercy-of-changing-technology/article14508039/

Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries released a statement claiming “Fat and not so cool kids shouldn’t be wearing our clothes”. He claims this is one of the main reasons why they don’t manufacture XL or XXL sizes of clothes of woman. In addition their hiring policy of recruiting only good-looking people as also been in question. Recent events have put the CEO on the spot light as patrons now take action by filing online petitions, video protest, and viral letter demanding that Abercrombie accept more diverse body types. Could this statement have harmed the way people see Abercrombie? Could it have affected the brand image of the firm?

In light of recent events, Abercrombie have reported a 30% drop in revenue, since the release of the CEO’s statement. They have also reported a significant amount of staff turnover and much less crowds at stores around the world. While the CEO tries to put back the pieces of the story, he released statements saying that Abercrombie and Fitch were completely opposed to any discrimination, bullying, derogatory characteristics or any other anti-social behavior. Nevertheless things don’t look too steady for Abercrombie yet as they try recovering from an unsatisfactory brand image.

Source:

http://www.businessinsider.com/abercrombie-statement-on-controversy-2013-5

In October, Apple launched one of its most innovative iPhone designs yet: the iPhone 5S. The long-awaited release was a great success and customers lined up hours prior to the release to get their hands on the device. However, Apple’s supply of the handset was quickly depleted at both online and local Apple Stores, a trend that continued as sales of the phone rolled out around the world. Apple greatly under estimated the demand for the new iPhones 5S. One of the speculated reasons is because of its simultaneous release with the iPhone 5c. Could this have harmed Apple? Could they have earned more revenue from an extra supply of iPhone’s? Could they have lost potential customers who would have switched to other alternatives?

The answer to all these questions is YES! Had Apple correctly estimated the level of demand, they could potentially have gained greater revenue while also satisfying more customers. Moreover, customers would not have been inclined to wait long periods of time for products, which consequently shifted preferences to Samsung and HTC. Had Apple done correct market research, they could have gained from potential sales revenue and satisfied more customers.

Source:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24160158